Nothing was more sure than that ATEED’s new slogan for Auckland, The Place Desired by Many, would turn out to be simply a translation of Tamaki Makaurau, the Ngati Whatua name for the city.

Really! Yes, really. The wags will have a field day.

It has already cost ratepayers over $500,000 and two years of naval-gazing by the low and the bad (ATEED’s branding team) to produce whatever it is that Ngati Whatua wants. What a monumental waste of time and money. It is no wonder such a pathetic ‘brand’ has found little favour among Councillors and the Mayor, except of course Penny Hulse.

Auckland council bureaucrats have spent $500,000 on a new city slogan, which has already been condemned as "outrageous" by some councillors and does not have the support of new mayor Phil Goff.

The city's proposed new global brand - The Place Desired by Many - was worked on by 115 council staff over two years.​Last night, Auckland councillor Dick Quax blasted the move as "outrageous raping of the ratepayer" and councillor Chris Fletcher said it was "a complete waste of money".

Strong words for such a weak slogan. The Auckland Ratepayers Alliance has this to say

Ratepayers will not be happy to learn that ATEED, Auckland Council’s marketing CCO, has been conducting a ‘behind closed doors’ exercise in re-branding Auckland. Over the last two years the CCO has spent $575,000 consulting with a string of special interest groups on a new ‘brand’ for the city. This is despite millions being spent on re-branding Auckland as the ‘world’s most liveable’ city during the Len Brown era. ATEED will be presenting ‘their’ proposal to the new mayor next week.

Auckland Ratepayers Alliance spokesperson, Jo Holmes, says

“It seems Auckland goes through this exercise every time there is a new mayor. The cost to ratepayers is tens of millions each time with every logo, booklet and website having to be re-vamped.

Phil Goff has told ratepayers he will be a more fiscally responsible mayor than Len Brown. This is a golden opportunity for him to put his own brand onto the mayoralty and say he will not waste ratepayers’ money when there are so many pressing issues that need attention and money.

It is also an opportunity to tell his bureaucrats that he, along with his Governing Body of Councillors, will be the ones who decide what happens in the city.

Goff should act decisively and tell ATEED to stop this wasteful exercise now. Goff has promised greater fiscal responsibility. Now he must deliver.

It is to Goff’s credit that his ‘spokesperson’ has told the Herald “the rebranding or marketing of Auckland was not a project the mayor was interested in championing.” He will come under pressure by his race based elite, the unelected Independent Maori Statutory Board, to pursue the Maorification of everything, especially a slogan of its own.

This is a perfect opportunity for Goff to show he means business when it comes to stopping wasteful Council spending and let it be known that he, not unelected elites, is in charge of the city.